I am Jason Shvili and this is my blog. I was born and raised in Canada and still live in the Great White North, but I also have roots in Israel and am extremely proud of my Israeli identity and heritage.
Whether you agree or disagree with what I have to say, please don't hesitate to post comments and tell me what you think. I look forward to hearing from all of you.

Saturday, 1 October 2016

Someone Needs to Stand Up to Putin's Russia

Syria continues to burn, as does the Donbas region of Ukraine. Putin's Russia has killed thousands with it's relentless military aggression that shows no signs of abating. And what have the world's democracies done about it? Have they created a no-fly zone in Syria? Did they deploy troops to Ukraine to prevent further Russian incursions into the country? Nope. Their only response has been a few sanctions here, a few words of condemnation there, and lots and lots of trying to talk Putin into stopping his ruthless quest for more land and power. Is any leader in the free world actually going to grow some backbone and stand up to the Russian dictator? Little hope of that any time soon, I fear.

The United States, led by Neville Chamberlain-esque President Barack Obama, now looks weaker than ever in the face of Putin's aggression. Remember when Obama said that the use of chemical weapons in Syria would be a game-changer? All talk and no action. Chemical weapons have been used in Syria on multiple occasions by Putin's ally, fellow dictator Bashar Al-Assad, and Obama has just sat on his hands and twiddled his thumbs. Not that the rest of the democratic world's leaders have done much better. The leaders of Europe, for instance, don't seem to care about what's causing thousands of Syrian refugees to rush to the continent for safety. Did it ever occur to them that if they would get off their asses and take concrete actions to end the bloodbath in Syria, they wouldn't have to deal with throngs of desperate people seeking refuge? Obviously not. Well, to the leaders of the free world, I say, WAKE THE HELL UP! Failure to take practical steps to curb the aggression of Putin and his allies has only emboldened them and will continue to embolden them. Before you know it, the Russian dictator's tanks could be in the streets of several NATO capitals. In fact, Putin has even said on one occasion that his forces could be in five NATO capitals in just two days. Hence, I would say that it's about time for the free world to act.

At the end of the day, the only thing that power-hungry leaders like Putin understand is force. So for example, if Putin's forces continue to bomb civilians and Western-backed forces in Syria, I say the West should bomb Assad's forces in order to protect those civilians and support the forces of freedom in the country. If Putin continues to deploy thousands of troops and heavy weapons in Ukraine's occupied Donbas and Crimea regions, then NATO should do the same in free Ukrainian territory and on the European borders with Russia. To sum it all up, if Putin wants to play hardball, then the free world should oblige him. I'm not advocating starting a war with Putin's Russia, because I know that Putin and his allies are not yet ready to start World War III. But if the free world doesn't act now to challenge the Russian dictator's pattern of aggression, he and his friends will have a big head start on the world's democracies once they are prepared to wage a global conflict.